Until The Music Stops
by Broken Stone
Summary: Sara and Greg are called in to investigate the death of a classical musician.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. Unfortunately. Am just borrowing and they will be returned undamaged and in their original packaging.

Prologue 

A young couple were walking down the dark alleyway. It was shadowed and secluded, behind a large and important looking building. There were sounds of classical music, clapping and voices, and streetlights from the road, but here it was quiet and sheltered.

'You know, I think we're lost,' the woman said. She was staggering slightly on her high heels; more from tiredness than anything else.

Her boyfriend slid an arm around her shoulders and kissed her neck. 'I didn't think you were in such a hurry. It's a nice night – '

'I really want to get back to our hotel, and get rid of these shoes,' she replied, leaning her head on his shoulder. 'You have no idea how much these things hurt.'

'You keep telling me that beauty is pain,' he pointed out.

'It's not worth that much pain at this time of night,' she said. He didn't answer and she frowned. 'What? What's wrong?' She turned, following the path of his gaze, and shrieked in shock.

The body of a young woman was stretched across the path of the alley. Her eyes were wide open and her mouth was open. There were marks around her throat and she was very obviously dead.

'Hey Sara, Greg,' Brass said as the two CSIs approached. 'I thought Grissom was working this case. Did he piss Ecklie off?'

'He's got another homicide across town,' Sara said. 'He sent us instead.' She smiled.

'Is that okay?' Greg asked.

Brass shrugged. 'Victim's name is Karen Green, twenty-two years old. She was staying in the hotel this alley backs onto. She's a musician, competing in some classical music competition. Friends are well connected. They want answers.'

'Everyone wants answers,' Sara said. 'Not everyone gets them.'


	2. Investigating

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. Unfortunately. Am just borrowing and they will be returned undamaged and in their original packaging.**

**To The Fourth Drunken Pirate: Don't worry, this was never intended to be a romance fic between Sara and Greg!**

**I decided to write a few 'episode' type fics, which are basically straight-forward investogations of crimes! It's not great, but I was writing at high speed and I just wrote it for some fun.**

**Investigating**

Sara examined the crime scene silently. Greg was busy taking photographs, also silently.

The woman was young, dressed in a green dress, her hair a stunning auburn colour that probably wasn't dyed. The heel of one of her shoes was broken and there was a broken necklace on the ground beside her neck.

'Nice necklace,' Greg observed as he photographed it.

'I'm thinking it might have been the murder weapon,' Sara said thoughtfully.

Greg considered. 'It is broken,' he said. 'Irregular bruising patterns on her neck – it could be.'

Sara carefully picked the necklace up and said, 'It's very beautiful. Emerald, diamonds, probably fake.'

'You think?'

'This would be a fortune's worth of diamonds,' she said. 'This dress is good quality, her shoes are good too, but nothing too expensive. A girl wearing real diamonds would be wearing a seriously expensive dress.'

'Okay,' Greg said, handing her an evidence bag. 'There's not much else, Sara. This alley is all but empty.'

'The couple who found her didn't see anything,' Brass said, coming over. 'You guys found anything?'

'We're still looking,' Greg told him.

'You two spend too much time with Grissom,' Brass muttered.

The two CSIs exchanged grins.

'Well?' Braas asked impatiently. 'Give me first impressions, guys.'

'First impressions are often wrong,' Sara said.

'First impression: she was murdered,' Greg said.

'Except that one,' Sara added.

Brass shook his head. 'It's gonna be one of those nights, is it?' he said dryly. 'You give me a call when you have something, guys.'

'You'll be the first to hear,' Sara said, looking up with a small smile.

'Except for Grissom,' Brass muttered as he wandered away.

The CSIs exchanged grins and continued to process the scene.

* * *

'What can you tell me about Karen?' Brass asked one of the women who had told him she was one of Karen Green's friends. 'I mean, why was she even here? Was she meeting someone?' 

'Not that I know of,' the woman said. 'She was supposed to be having some fun tonight. She and Alexander Gregory did pretty well today in the violin competition. We were all supposed to be going out partying tonight, but I didn't see her after we had dinner.'

'That Alexander?' Brass asked, nodding towards a young man who was talking quietly to the police. He looked miserable.

'Yeah,' the woman said. 'He and Karen were really close.'

'Okay, thank you,' Brass said and made his way over to Alexander. 'You Alexander Gregory?'

'That's right,' the man said. He was quite tall and thin, and quite good looking. He looked miserable and distressed. 'You have any idea what happened to Karen?'

'You were friends, right?' Brass said.

'We were partners in the violin competition,' Alexander said. 'We were going to be playing a duet together the day after tomorrow.'

'You're a pretty good violinist, then,' Brass asked.

Alexander frowned. 'Yes. Yes, I am. So was Karen.'

'Was she a better player than you?'

'If I'm totally honest, no, she wasn't,' Alexander said, sounding puzzled and annoyed. 'And what does that have to do anything?'

'I'm just asking questions,' Brass said innocently.

'You're wondering if I killed her for the competition,' Alexnader said coldly. 'The amswer is no. The prize money is small. I don't need it. And, although Karen was an excellent player, she would have told you, anyone here will tell you, that I am the better player.'

'Is that a fact?'

Alexnader shrugged. 'I've been playing longer,' he said simply. 'We didn't fight over who was the btter player or anythijng.'

'When was the last time you saw her?' Brass asked.

'About nine,' Alexander said. 'We were giong to go out to a club, we were all ready to go and then she got a call on her mobile. She said she'd sort it out and then she left. I didn't see her again.'

'She say who called, what it was about?'

'No, she didn't.'

'You didn't think to look for her?'

'I assumed she was in her room,' Alexander said. 'Or somewhere. I had a few drinks and chatted to a few people. I went up to my room when she didn't come back and I didn't come out until an hour ago. The first I knew about what had happened to her was when you people turned up.'

'You sure about that?' Brass asked blandly.

'Yes. I am.'

'Got an alibi?'

'The hotel bar staff,' he siad shortly.

'Okay. We'll be checking that. You can go, but don't leave town. We might want to talk to you again.'

Alexander nodded curtly and walked away.

'What do you think?' Sara asked from behind him.

'You heard that?' Brass said.

'Some of it.'

'I think he know something,' Brass replied.

'You like him for the murder?'

'We'll see what you scientific types come with first, shall we?' Brass said, with a quick smile.

* * *

Once they had finished processing the scene where Karen's body had been found, Sara said to Greg, 'You go back to the lab. Get the evidence we've found processed and let me know what you find.' 

'You're going to process her hotel room?' he asked.

She nodded. 'And I'll let you know what I find.'

'Fair enough. See you later.'

'Hey, doc,' Greg said, poking his head around the door of the mortuary. 'Have you autopsied our DB yet?'

'Miss Karen Green?' the doctor said. 'Yes, I have.'

'Was the cause of death strangulation?' Greg asked him, going in and walking over.

'Manual strangulation,' Robbins said. He pulled the sheet off of the body and showed Greg the livid bruises around the throat. 'Curious ligature marks, I've never seen marks like these. You and Sara were right, the murder weapon was the necklace she was wearing. The bruises match the size and shape of the stones.'

'Yeah,' Greg nodded.

'A of hate gone into this,' Robbins added. 'The force needed to manually strangle a struggling, screaming person is significant. The force applied here, and the fact that she was strangled with a necklace, rather than a rope or a strap suggests there was a lot of personal hate behind it.'

'Good deduction, doc,' Greg said, grinning. 'Thanks, I'll go tell Sara. No other possible cause of death?'

'None,' Robbins said firmly. 'She was in excellent health. No one can question she was strangled.'

'Thanks.' Greg left and went to find Sara.

'What are the results of the autopsy?' she asked him when he found her, drinking of cup of the mud they called coffee in the lab.

'She definatly died of strangulation,' Greg said. 'Nothing else. So what did you find at the hotel?'

'Very little,' Sara said. 'But what I did find was very important. Karen's phone, which had call on it which was timed at half an hour before she died, and it's an unknown number. I got the lab running it now. And the other thing is that Karen Green wasn't sleeping alone in her room.'

Greg raised his eyebrows. 'A mystery man?'

Sara nodded, smiling. 'Who could be lead on whoever killed her. I've sent samples off to DNA.'

'Great,' Greg said cheerfully.

'Hey, terrible two,' Brass called up the corridor.

'What is it?' Sara asked him.

'I just had Karen's best friend come in and talk to me,' he said as he reached them.

The CSIs exchanged looks.

'Got a pretty good idea what this is about,' Greg said, folding his arms.

'Anything to do with a certain male friend of Karen's not telling the whole truth?' Brass inquired.

'Alexander Gregory was sleeping with her?' Sara said.

Brass nodded.

'We'll have to check the DNA,' Greg observed. 'We'll need a match.'

'Yeah, we will,' Sara said. 'Brass, the minute we get a match on the male DNA we found, will you bring him in for us?'

Brass grinned. 'Of course.'

* * *

Alexander sat at the table in the interview room. He looked very pale but very composed and calm. It was a façade; Sara had interviewed enough people to know that he was nervous and unhappy about being here. 

She opened the door and walked in, and sat down without greeting. She considered him silently for a few moments and then said, 'What was your relationship with Karen?'

'I already told you,' Alexander said quietly. 'We were friends.'

'You were a bit more than friends,' Sara said.

'We played the violin together,' he said, looking down at the table. 'We practised together.'

'You were – doing more than just practising,' Sara said.

He looked away. 'So we slept together. So what?'

'It means you lied to us,' she said. 'You said you were just friends.'

'We were,' he said shortly. 'We were friends who had sex a couple of times. What about it?'

'You still lied.'

'I'm not proud of cheating on my girlfriend,' he said coldly. 'I didn't want her to find out from anyone other than me.'

'Oh, so you were planning on telling her?' Sara said sarcastically. 'How considerate of you. I suppose Karen was just a screw on the side, whilst your girlfriend is at home?'

'Something like that,' he said, not meeting her eyes. 'I spend a lot of time in America. I have family here and I have friends here. I met Karen at a party, we got on really well straight away. We met up quite a bit at home, we became friends and we had – a few nights together.'

'Did you kill her?' Sara asked bluntly.

'No!' he said angrily. 'Karen was my friend – '

'You don't treat your friends as a bit on the side.'

' – and why would I kill her? For one thing, we were friends and for another, I needed her. We were supposed to be playing a duet in the competition together. She was my partner in the competition.'

'Doesn't mean you didn't kill her.'

'Doesn't mean I did,' he said, sounding furious and miserable. 'I don't care what you think of me. I didn't kill Karen.'

'You believe him?' Brass asked.

'I'm trained not to believe anyone,' Sara said. 'I don't know, Brass. I really don't know. I guess that's okay, because all I need to do is follow the evidence.'

'We'll have to let him go,' Brass said. 'We don't have enough to hold him.'

'No, but we know where he is,' she said. 'We can bring him in if we need to.

* * *

'Tell me you've got something, Greg,' Sara said pleadingly as she entered the room. 

'How is your case going?' Grissom asked, poking his head around the door. 'The dead violinist, right?'

'It's going slowly,' Sara said over her shoulder. Grissom nodded and disappeared. 'Greg?' she said.

He grinned at her. 'You know they say diamonds are forever?' he asked, waggling his eyebrows.

She rolled her eyes. 'What have you found out, Greg?'

'I got the lab to take a look at that necklace,' he said. 'It's a pretty expensive piece of jewellery. I assumed that the stones were cubic zirconium, pretty good ones, and the green stone was a green crystal, but they're not.'

Sara frowned. 'They're real diamonds?'

'They are real,' Greg confirmed. 'And one heavily price genuine emerald. This is one expensive piece of jewellery. And,' he added, 'it was custom made for Karen Green.' He waved a photograph of the broken necklace at her.

'Custom made?' Sara said, astonished.

'Yeah,' Greg said. 'The jeweller said that Alexander Gregory had it commissioned as a gift for Karen.' He looked at Sara. 'That's an expensive gift for a guy to give a girl who's just bit on the side, don't you think?'

'Yeah,' she said slowly. 'This changes things.' She looked up as Catherine walked in. 'Hey, Catherine.'

The other woman looked around. 'Yeah?'

Sara held up the photograph. 'A man gives you that – '

'Is it real?' Catherine asked, eyeing it.

'Genuine diamonds and emerald. A man gives you that – what does it say to you?'

'He's either a thief or he's in love,' Catherine said.

Sara nodded and looked back at Greg. 'Crime of passion?' she suggested.

'Let's go ask him,' Greg said.

* * *

When they got to the hotel, they found out that Alexander wasn't there. But his girlfriend, Lillian, was. They knocked on the door and she let them in to wait for him to come back. 

'Where is he?' Sara asked.

'He went to see some friends,' Lillian said. She looked nervous and bemused. 'Is this about Karen's death?'

'You knew her?' Sara asked.

Lillian nodded. 'Oh, yes. We were quite good friends.' She smiled. 'I introduced them because I met Karen at some party and she told me she was a violinist. They got on well and started playing the violin together.'

Greg raised his eyebrows at Sara. Lillian was obviously totally unaware that her boyfriend had been cheating on her with her friend.

'Have you ever seen this necklace?' Sara asked, holding out a photograph.

Lillian took it and frowned. 'Oh, yes,' she said. 'Alexander gave it to me a while ago but I didn't like. Emeralds don't really suit me,' she said with a quick laugh. 'I don't know what he was thinking.'

'Any idea why Karen was wearing it when she died?' Sara asked.

'I imagine he gave it to her,' Lillian said. 'Birthday present, maybe.'

'Expensive birthday present,' Greg said.

Lillian shrugged. 'They were close and Alexander's fmaily isn't exactly short of money.'

'I see,' Sara said slowly. She was about to ask something else when her phone rang. 'Sidle,' she siad shortly. 'What? Can't it wait? Okay.' She hung up and said to Greg, 'We have to get back to the lab. Apparently, it can't wait.' She looked at Lillian, and said, 'Would you excuse us? We have to go now but we'll probably be back at some point.'

'Okay,' she said, looking confused.

'What was that about?' Greg asked as they left.

'The lab got something on the necklace,' she said.

* * *

'Okay, Hodges, why are you giving us this information?' Greg asked, back at the lab. 

Hodges looked down his nose at Greg. 'Because I was asked to, Sanders,' he said dryly. 'The genuine diamond and emerald necklace was comissioned for Karen Green by Alexander Gregory. I have here a reciept from the jewellers, right here in Las Vegas. Gregory collected and paid for the necklace three days ago.'

'Right,' Sara said. 'That changes things, doesn't it?'

'What are you thinking?' Hodges asked curiously.

'Crime of passion,' Sara said. 'He bought her an incredibly expensive and beautiful necklace because he loved her. Maybe she didn't feel the same way?'

'Again, let's ask him,' Greg said.

'Get Brass to pull him in,' she said. 'I'll talk to him. We still haven't got any result off of that mobile, Greg, you go and get the lab to get a move on. We're going to need that evidence.'

* * *

'This necklace,' Sara said, pushing the photograph over the table, 'was custom made for Karen, wasn't it? Set you back a fair bit, I would imagine.' 

Alexander shrugged. He wouldn't look at her.

'Nothing your girlfriend has is worth anywhere near as much as this.'

'It was a present. She was a friend.'

'You don't give a friend an emerald and diamond necklace,' Sara said. 'And not a custom made one, Alexander. You loved her, didn't you?'

He smiled. 'She was the love of my life. I was totally in love with her, she was – an amazing person.' The smile faded. 'I didn't kill her. I loved her.'

'Crime of passion,' Sara said. 'She didn't love you back, after everything you professed to her. People heard you arguing, shouting at each other. You couldn't handle her rejecting your love so you attacked her, raped her and killed her.'

'No!' He gave her a furious look, tears in his eyes. 'I loved her. We argued, yes. We argued because – because someone told her that I had given the necklace to my girlfriend and she hadn't liked it. Karen didn't want Lillian's cast-offs, she was angry.'

'Did you give it to Lillian?'

'No,' he said angrily, 'and I don't know who told her that. I played the voice mail message that said the necklace was ready, two days before. Karen knew I hadn't seen Lillian for over a week so it couldn't have been for her if I gave it to Karen first. We made up. We had sex and then I left.'

'You left?'

'I got a phonecall from a friend, I stepped outside to take it, ended up chatting to some people, had a drink and when I went back, she had gone. I didn't kill her.'

The door opened and Greg looked in. 'We've got something,' he said.

'Excuse me,' Sara said to Alexander. She got up and walked out. 'What is it. Greg?'

'Two things. I finally managed to get a look at Karen's mobile phone,' Greg said. 'You know the lab was trying to track the number down?'

Sara nodded.

'We've tracked it down to a payphone just down the road from the hotel,' Greg explained. 'So, I took myself and my field kit down to the phone and dusted it for prints. I lifted like, a billion prints, and I ran them all.'

'And?' Sara prompted.

Greg grinned. 'You'll never guess.'

'Greg,' she said, poking him in the shoulder, 'tell me or I'll tell Grissom you want to donate blood.'

Greg winced and held up his hands. 'Okay, okay! I ran all the prints against one that I also lifted off of the back of the emerald. None of the other stones had printable surfaces, but the back is flat enough.'

Sara grinned. 'You got a match?'

'I got a match,' he said, copying her grin.

'And? Who does the print belong to?'

'Well, I can tell you that it doesn't belong to your prime suspect in there,' he said.

* * *


	3. Case Closed

**Case Closed**

'Do you know why you're here?' Sara asked.

Lillian refused to look at her. 'No.'

'I think you do,' Sara said grimly. 'You killed Karen Green, didn't you?'

'No.'

'You killed her because she stole the man you loved,' Sara said.

Lillian looked up. 'I didn't even know – '

'Don't give me that,' Sara said shortly. 'You knew. You were angry. Furious. You hated them both, but you hated her even more, didn't you?'

Lillian shook her head stubbornly. 'No. You're talking crap.'

'She took the man you loved and you killed her for it,' Sara repeated. 'You called her, said you needed to talk to her. You waited for her, you warned her to stay away from your boyfriend and she told you where to go. You fought, and you got her onto the ground and you strangled her with the necklace he had given her. The necklace broke.'

'You can't prove any of that,' Lillian said.

'Your prints are all over that necklace.'

'Of course they are. He gave it to me, I didn't like it – '

'What's not to like?' Sara asked. 'It's beautiful piece of work and you have expensive tastes. No, he never offered it to you.'

'You can't prove that. I had the necklace before Karen did.'

'No, you didn't,' Sara said. 'You told one of his friends that you'd had it and didn't like it and they told Karen, and then she and Alexander had an argument over it which everyone else remembered. But you never saw that necklace. You just wanted to get them arguing.'

'You can't prove that,' Lillian said angrily.

'Actually, I can.' Sara pushed a recipet across the table. 'This is the receipt for the necklace when Alexander collected and paid for it. The receipt dates three days before Karen died. You didn't know that it had only just been made, did you? The last time you saw Alexander before Karen died was the day before he collected the necklace. You never saw the necklace before the night Karen died. When you heard that he'd given her a piece of expensive jewellry, you told everyone he'd given it to you, but that was a lie because you didn't see him or the necklace.'

Lillian didn't reply.

Sara continued, 'The necklace was polished before Alexander collected it, so the only prints on it are Karen's and yours. Alexander probably handled it, but Karen polished it before she wore it the night she died. Your prints are on top of Karen's. You were the last person to touch that necklace. You strangled her with it. But you broke it. Fortunately for us, you left a partial print on the emerald which we were able to pull. None of the other stones had printable surfaces.'

Lillian didn't reply.

'He was in love with her so you killed her,' Sara said again. 'It occurred to you he might become a suspect so you made sure he was in the hotel, where he'd probably be seen, to give him some kind of an alibi. You wanted him back, you didn't want him accused of murder.'

'He broke my heart,' Lillian said. 'She stole him from me and she pretended to be my friend. I introduced them, I got her into the best crowds in this town, and this is how she repays me? By stealing my boyfriend?' She shook her head. 'She wasn't getting away with that and nor was he. They were travelling together, meeting up – '

'You're not the jealous type then,' Sara said sarcastically.

'I trusted him,' Lillian snapped. 'I was happy he had a friend with an interest in classical music, that he could play his music with, practise with. Then they started spending more and more time together. Calling each other. I started suspecting something a long time ago. You have to work at relationship. I did. He stopped.'

'Then you should have taken it up with him, not with Karen,' Sara said.

'He'd never leave her,' Lillian said flatly.

'Oh, I see,' Sara said. 'You thought it she was dead, he'd come back to you.'

Lillian nodded.

'You could have just moved on,' Sara said. 'You should have just moved on, Lillian. If he doesn't love you, then he doesn't love you. Killing Karen wouldn't have made him love you again.'

'No way,' Lillian said. 'No one takes the man I love and gets away with it.'

'You can't have loved him,' Sara said. 'If you had, you would have let him be with the woman he did love – '

'I loved him and he cheated on me!'

'No one is defending that!' Sara snapped back. She rose. 'But Karen didn't deserve to die because you were hurt and angry.'

Lillian looked away.

'Think about that,' Sara said, pausing at the door. Lillian refused to look at her, a couple of tears trickling down her face. 'Never mind,' Sara said harshly. 'You're going to have around twenty, twenty-five years to think about it.'


End file.
